A Dangerous Assumption
by Pinbreaker
Summary: A Southsider comes to Cross Academy on scholarship. Being from a neighborhood that is considered 'da hood' and is feared by most other Chicagoans, she doesn't fall into life at the Academy easily. And thing's aren't looking up for her. R&R -HIATUS-
1. Introduction: Independence Day

_Vampire Knight does not belong to me. _

**A Dangerous Assumption**

_Introduction: Not so Easy_

_**Chicago Lawn, Chicago, Illinois: June 18, 2006**_

There were three girls walking down the street. They were all around the age of sixteen. They were chatting about normal teenage things, like who they were dating, cars, and make-up and they were catching up on the gossip going around in their school. The one in the middle was the one holding down most of the conversation, she was tall and pretty with light brown hair that hung in a cascade of wavy styled curls down to her waist, she had bright blue eyes and wore her hair in a loose pony, swung over one of her shoulders. The girls next to her were her best friends. The one on the right had straight jet black hair that went to her shoulders. She had gray eyes and was carrying her sketchbook, as she was the artist of the group. She showed the girl beside her some of her new drawings and they talked and laughed about what she was thinking while doing them. Then the girl on her left would jump in once in a while with a sarcastic thing to say. She had longish blond hair that was held in a tie back, but had some loose hair underneath the ponytail. She was the joker of the group. And it was just an ordinary day on their Chicago street.

Then all of a sudden, a shot rang out.

And the girl in the middle fell to the ground. The other two looked at her and chuckled a little, nervously, thinking that she was playing a joke due to the shot coming from behind them.

The one with blond hair reached down and shook the girl's shoulder, but when she didn't respond she whispered, "Lisa?" When she still didn't say anything, she shook her harder and shouted, "Lisa?!" Then she looked up at the girl with black hair who was just standing there and cried, "Call an ambulance or something, Amber! She won't wake up!"

Out on a stoop of one of the homes was a little girl. She had been waiting for her older sister to arrive home, but then instead she saw one of her sister's friends running to the house.

"Hey, Amber, where's Lisa?" the little girl asked, but she wasn't answered, instead Amber just ran into the apartment. The child followed her and heard the phone conversation with 911. Her eyes got wide and she began to cry.

"Is Lisa okay?" she cried.

Amber tried to be brave, tried to smile a little and say that everything was alright, but she failed miserably and just ended up breaking into tears.

Soon, neighbors were beginning to congregate outside of their rooms and were either heading towards where a crowd now was surrounding the police cars that had arrived on the scene, or were listening to Amber tell what she thought had happened.

All throughout the night the little girl waited for her brother and parents to come back from the hospital. She couldn't go because the rules and regulations said that twelve was too young. So she had to be all alone in the creepy little apartment that no longer had her sister. She lay on the top bunk of her bed and at one time even convinced herself that if she just looked down at the bottom bunk once in a while her sister would be there waiting for her little sister to start annoying her. But whenever she looked, she wasn't there. Finally she managed to cry herself to sleep.

_**July 4, 2009**_

My parents got a divorce soon after the death of my sister, and then my dad lost his job working as a manager in a restaurant. My older brother soon became the only way we could afford anything. I lived with my father while my mother moved to New York and my brother went to the University of Chicago. My brother Elliot would often come to see me and would take me to get a hot dog or something and we would go see a Sox game once in a while. My dad tried hard, but he was still in grief over what happened to my sister. Everything changed after my sisters death. The only thing that didn't change was where we lived. We still lived on the street where she was shot. And I even slept in the same bunk, right above the one that use to be hers. I still look down at it once in a while to see if she somehow reappeared.

It's strange for me really to be broken up over this. I mean, it happens all the time. There's not much unusual about the danger that my neighborhood lives in. That's just how it is. It was more like it was a wake up call that was telling us "you got too comfortable", and we had to listen to it.

I think that I'm going crazy. After my sister's death, I focused on my schoolwork. However, after school when I had nothing to do because I had finished all of the homework that nobody really cared about, I liked to jump rope with my friends. My school life and my personal life were completely different and separate. I created fantasies as I jumped and wondered if there were any place that could be better than my neighborhood, but be something that was as interesting.

Then, I found the Cross Academy website while I was surfing the web. It was a school that was extremely prestigious and took in students from all over the world. That wasn't the only thing though.

It was in Japan. Maybe this is the place that I had been hoping for most of my life.

I asked the headmaster if he would be willing to take me in on scholarship, and I was elated when I received the answer "yes".

So, I'm going to Japan, and I'm leaving my neighborhood behind. Why is there this little voice inside of me that keeps repeating "it's just not that simple"?

* * *

I know that this is short, but it's only an introduction. Pretty sure that this will be a Takuma/OC, but if anyone thinks it should be otherwise-tell me!

I revised and added some detail that I thought would be better than what I originally had. I'm going to go through the other chapters and do the same. Please, tell me when there is something wrong. It makes proofreading go by a lot faster and much more smoothly.

**_I do not know if anything like this has occurred in Chicago Lawn. It's fictionalized, I'm not trying to insult anyone (or get anyone into trouble). _**


	2. Chapter One: The Arrival of the New Girl

_Vampire Knight does not belong to me. _

**Takuma/OC**

_**A Dangerous Assumption**_

_Chapter One: The Arrival of the New Girl_

_**Cross Academy, Japan: July 5, 2009**_

I sighed as I stepped out of the taxi. It had been a long ride from the airport to the Academy, and it seemed even longer after the impossibly long flight. I paid the driver his money and gave him a nice tip. Then I grabbed my duffel from the back. The taxi slowly pulled away from the curb and I just stood looking at the walk to the school. It wasn't very far and I could see the entrance gate from here. I sighed and started towards it.

I was dressed in the best that I could afford. White slacks on the bottom and a white blouse with a black vest on top. The vest was just regular stiff fabric. I bet that people who went here and paid could look much better than me. I shrugged to myself and shifted my duffel to be on my right shoulder. Even my duffel didn't look great. It was just a simple maroon color with a few black streaks. In it were the things that I figured I would need in a boarding school. Clothes, a couple pairs of shoes, my journal, a bunch of pencils, paper and a notebook. What else could I possibly need? I had a few photos so that I could tack them up on the wall. They were to remember Chicago and my family, but it wasn't much. I didn't really care anyway. That life was finished and this one was starting.

I approached the gate and looked through first. I could see a lot of girls gathering in front of a large wooden gate in front what I assumed was a dorm. The moment of peace that I thought I could be in ended as they all began to scream loudly. I wondered at what was going on, and fumbled at the gates clasp. I couldn't get it open! It would seem that it was jammed.

I kept trying at it, but it just wouldn't open. Finally as the girls screaming grew louder, I settled on just looking up to see what the big deal was from where I was. I was a little annoyed that despite there being so many girls around, not one could help me with getting the gate open.

I stood with my arms folded across my chest and watched while the girls seemed to hold their breath in anticipation. Then I saw what it was. Boys. Of course.

I would have been more interested if it was a fight or something. I didn't care about smart rich boys. They could look good, but what would they do if something went wrong where one of them was being attacked? What would they say? What would they do? They could look nice, but they probably weren't very competent.

I began to try to get the gate open again. This time I tried everything. I was practically attacking it. Then all of a sudden it opened, and I wasn't prepared.

I fell back, landing with a small 'thump' on my back. I groaned a little and then looked up. In the wake of the gate stood a very surprised boy. He wore a white uniform, like all of the other rich boys, but this one had dull blond hair that lay neatly on his head, obviously styled to be that way, and bright green eyes which were currently opened wide in surprise, he was unusually pale, but that might have been just what I thought, since I came from a region where it was a hot, hot summer. He slowly came to his senses and remembered that there was a girl on the ground.

I had gotten up on my own at that point though. I dusted myself off and then grabbed my fallen duffel bag. I slung it back onto my right shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he told me, "I didn't mean to knock such a pretty girl onto the ground."

I grimaced and then shouldered past him a little to get onto the school grounds. He was surprised, but then followed me.

"Hey! Aren't you going to say anything?" he asked me as he fell into my stride.

"Uh, yeah, please leave me alone," I told him. Then I kept walking towards my destination.

"Hey! Come on! I was trying to be friendly!" he called to me.

I whirled around and this time practically threatened him, "don't bother me. I don't have to be friendly to you just 'cause you're rich. I can act how I want to! Now leave me alone!"

He looked at me in confusion and a little hurt, but then slowly nodded. He turned around and then walked away. I let out a sigh of relief and then looked at the ground. I felt guilty for yelling at him like that, but I was really nervous. I didn't like boys all that much. In my home I could never know what they wanted from me. And this time it was a rich boy. There was no reason that I could think of for somebody like him to want to be friends with somebody like me. After all, I was poor. Probably dirt poor. I wouldn't have gotten into this school if it hadn't been for my grades.

Then I saw that there was a girl and a boy standing a couple paces off from me. They were both dressed in a black uniform and had badges on their sleeves. Come to think of it, the girls had all worn black uniforms and the other rich kids had worn white ones. I wondered if there were two classes here.

The girl approached me slowly and then told me, "uh, hello, I'm Yuuki Cross. I'm a prefect here at Cross Academy. I take it you are the new student?"

I nodded slowly and smiled a little. "That's right, I'm Gwen," I told her.

She seemed to relax a little. "I saw that you had some rather tough words for Ichijou-senpai," she told me.

So that was the pricks name. Ichijou. I made a face.

"I didn't know what he wanted, so I got a little upset," I told her.

"Yeah, he means well," she told me, "he's the vice president of our Night Class."

I nearly stopped breathing. _He _was the vice president? If I had known that about a minute ago, I might not have yelled at him like that! Now I felt guilty. He was probably told to help me and I had practically eaten his head off. I wanted to shoot myself. It was only the first day, not _even_ the first day, and I was already going to start off on the wrong foot.

Yuuki cleared her throat to get my attention. My head snapped back to her and she started to talk to me about some of the rules or something. I didn't really pay attention, but did throw in a couple of nods to make my pretending look more convincing. At the end she smiled and told me, "okay! I'll show you to your room. You'll stay in the Sun Dorm like all the other Day Class girls do. You'll be sharing a room with a girl named Kiyoko Manami. Your uniform is already in your room and breakfast's at seven, don't be late."

I followed her to the dorm and then up to the third floor. At the end of the hall was the room that would be mine. And Kiyoko's.

"I hope that you like it here," Yuuki told me.

I nodded and then thanked her. I turned and opened the door to my new room. Almost immediately I was bombarded by a person.

"I've got'cha!" the voice screamed.

I screamed in return and then tried to get whoever it was off of me. We ended up rolling on the floor and then hitting a dresser of which something fell off and landed on us. It was a large photo album. We both straightened and grabbed at it. When she had it securely in her arms she looked at me with a glare.

"This is mine, you can't have it," she told me. She stuck out her tongue.

I gave her a look like she was crazy. That's when it seemed to dawn on her that I was her roommate, not a photo album stealing fangirl.

"Oh! Oh! I am so sorry! I didn't know that it was my new roommate! You see, there are these girls who are after my photo album because I'm the only one who can hide mine in time before the room raids. They get a little jealous," she told me as she blushed. "but you're my roommate! So you can look at it anytime you like!"

She placed it back onto her dresser. I just watched her. Then she turned back to me and smiled broadly.

"So. Who are you?" she asked me, "where do you come from? Is it fun? Is it adventurous? How were the boys in your old school?"

I just stared at her for a moment. Her muddy blue green eyes were sparkling and they had a really innocent tone to them and the way that she had her mouth part way open even after finishing her statement made me think that she was ready to ask more. She had short shoulder length light brown hair that hung down in small waves, like mini braids, but naturally.

Slowly I answered, "I'm Gwendolyn Magdalene Pierce, I came from Chicago." I chose to ignore the last couple of statements.

She looked excited still though.

"Chicago! That's in America!" she cried. "What's America like?!"

"It's... nice?" I asked rather than said.

She squealed. "I want to go to America! Next break we'll go together!" she cried.

I gave her a look that was completely confused, but then she laughed.

"I'm sorry! I'm frightening you! It's just that I have been _so_ excited that the new girl was going to be in my room! I don't have many friends here. I was new just a while ago myself," she told me.

I grinned then. "Awesome, if you count me as a friend, I'll count you as a friend!" I told her.

She grinned back at me and then told me, "done!"

I began to unpack my bag and she told me where she had arranged the drawers for me. We had to share a dresser so she got the top two drawers and I got the next two. Then the ones at the bottom were left over, but she said that we could use those for something different.

Then I went into the bathroom down the hallway to get into my pajamas. I didn't care if it was after curfew, it was only a little bit down the hall. What could happen from stepping out to get changed and brush ones teeth? I shrugged. It wasn't a big deal.

When I came back to the room, I saw that Kiyoko was already asleep in her bed. I sighed in slight relief since she was really hyper. I ran my brush through my long red-brown hair one more time before I climbed into my own bed and went to sleep.

_**Same place: same night: different POV**_

Ichijou sat at his desk not really paying attention to the microeconomics lesson. He was still in shock over being yelled at by the new Day Class girl. Normally those girls would be flocking to him, or at least gawking over him. She had done neither.

He had seen her trying to get the school gate open, and because he knew that it sometimes got stuck he went to help her. He hadn't meant for her to fall and get herself dirty, but she seemed to take it that way. Maybe it was what he said. 'Pretty girl' might not have been a great choice of words. It might have been for a fallen fangirl, but the new girl? That was probably a mistake. But she didn't have to yell at him like that! That was completely uncalled for! Just where was she from?!

"Ichijou-san's still thinking about the girl who would have flung him out of the world today," Shiki mumbled. "Ichijou-san, just what did you do?"

Ichijou groaned and shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted, "she must be one of the few who can tell when there's a bad aura."

"Could she be from a vampire hunter family?" Rima asked.

Ichijou shrugged. "I'll ask Kaname about her later," he told them, "maybe she's just defensive."

The class went on, but Ichijou still couldn't pay attention. He kept looking out the window and in general get distracted.

_Who is that girl?_

_

* * *

_

Okay, it's pretty bad, but I wanted to get the 'real' first chapter up quickly. Hopefully this will get into more detail on her attitude. She certainly has one, doesn't she? It's because she grew up in a dangerous neighborhood and her sister died when she was twelve. What do you think of her name? I purposely thought of the longest name in history that would still sound good! Hehe... I can't say it five times fast...

I feel bad for Ichijou though, since he only opened the gate for her.

**Please review! I know that this isn't very good, but it's only the first chapter! I would love it, even if you think that it's awful, if you would review! Seriously, it's not that hard to tell me what you think. **


	3. Chapter Two: A Different Opinion

_Vampire Knight does not belong to me. _

**Takuma/OC**

_**A Dangerous Assumption**_

_Chapter Two: A Different Opinion_

_**Cross Academy, Japan: July 6, 2009**_

I woke up and stretched out on my bed. At first I was confused as to why I didn't have to climb down before slamming my alarm clock to a pulp, but then I remembered that I wasn't in Chicago anymore. I was in Cross Academy in Japan.

I sat up and looked around. The room was your typical everyday dorm room. Four walls, wooden floor, and a window across from the door. The beds were on either side of the window with a night table to separate them. They were the average twin size and I had the one on the left if you were to walk in through the door. I saw that the dresser, that we had rolled into last night, was to the right of the door and there was a bookcase on the opposite side, right at the foot of my bed. Yeah, it was the typical room, I wouldn't want to spend my whole day in here. That was for sure. Heck, I didn't even want to spend the whole night in here. I was going to get claustrophobic.

I glanced at my roommate's bed and saw that she was still asleep with the pillow on top of her head and one leg hanging out of the bed, her arms were stretched out so that she was lying on her stomach. I chuckled a little and then looked at my alarm clock, it read 5:38. I grinned and then stepped out of bed.

I went to the drawers that were mine and took out a uniform. Black. Great, I _loved_ black. I groaned and grabbed my toiletry bag and headed off to the bathroom to get ready for school. It was my first day, and I had to be ready for it. Who knew what could happen? And I was waking up early in case some of the girls tried to prank the new girl. I was _not _in the mood to get pranked. I didn't want to look like an idiot, not on the first day.

To wake myself up some more, since I was still really tired from the long journey, the time change, and being tackled unexpectedly by my roommate, I washed my face off with cold, really cold, water. Then I looked up into the mirror to come face to face with my cerulean blue eyes and almost red hair. My hair use to get me teased a lot as a kid. It was to my mid-back in these loose ringlets of flame tinged brown coils. People use to call me all sorts of things like Flame Girl, Red Head, and Cowgirl. None of which were completely bad, but they hurt a little kids feelings. I use to hate my hair, but now, I kind of liked my hair. It made me special and it made my already pale face a little more pale. Although that was sometimes a bad thing, like when it was summer. I always burned, I never tanned. No matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did, and no matter what SPF I used. I was currently up to 80, and I still burned. It was just one of the unfortunate things in my life.

I sighed and then went to start the water in one of the showers. I set it to cold, very cold.

I had things to think about. I had to think about Ichijou. I had been completely rude to him when I was in one of my worse moods. It could have been many things I knew. It could have been because I fell in front of him and was embarrassed. It could have been because of the long flight and taxi ride. It could have been that dark aura that surrounded him and those other rich kids.

Yeah... that aura... it had been particularly strong with them... it was kind of like the one that floated off the gangsters in our school, but strangely this one was stronger. It was just this feeling that I got deep inside when I knew that a person wasn't who he said he was. Ichijou might come off as nice and considerate, and he might be, but there was something that he and the other rich kids were hiding. And I kind of wanted to find out what.

I had always investigated the death of my older sister Lisa. It was unfortunate that the man who had shot her did it by accident and in the end wasn't charged. Well, he wasn't because he wasn't found. He could have been charged with involuntary manslaughter at the very least. And my dad and brother didn't want me to try to do anything. That was why they suggested trying for a better school. They encouraged me to try to leave our street behind. And I was more than happy to comply. I didn't want those memories to haunt me forever.

I just hoped they didn't follow me here.

I stepped out of the shower and quickly dried off as I heard more people starting to come towards the shower room. I grabbed my uniform and threw it on, luckily it went on easily. Then I put on all the accessories and tied all the ribbons and laces. I looked in the mirror and did my hair so that the hair in the front would go over the hair in the back in a small ponytail. Then, when I was satisfied, I put a little bit of make-up on. I gave my hair one last stroke with the brush as I headed to the door.

I opened it and checked outside for girls. I looked slowly one way, and then the other. Seeing nobody, I slowly stepped outside and checked again. Then I made a break for it and made it back into my room without being bombarded. I slammed the door closed and leaned against it, waking up my effervescent roommate.

She woke up with her hair all over the place and picked up the first weapon she saw. A slipper. She looked around wildly and then saw me leaning on the door. She grinned and dropped it.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked. "are they out there?"

She looked a little worried now. Probably because since she would be hanging out with me she would be the unhappy recipient of pranks too. I returned the look of worry as I answered, "I honestly have no clue."

She groaned and then rolled out of bed and went to the dresser to grab her uniform.

"I'm going to go get changed," she told me. "don't let anyone steal my album!"

I nodded in reply and then moved to the side so that she could get out of the room. When she was gone I went to wait on my bed.

I dug out my duffel, which I had stuffed under my bed. Then I reached into it to grab the photos of my home. I could see that Kiyoko had tacked her own family pictures onto the wall by her bed, so I set up to do the same. The first couple were of the city. I had also brought a large poster that I had rolled up. On it was the skyline, the line of buildings from the vantage point of the lake. It was a scene taken at night, so all the lights were shining and reflected on the water. I loved this poster. I couldn't just leave it behind in my old dilapidated apartment. Who could appreciate it then? There was my dad, but he would be too busy to just sit and look at it. My brother liked to hang out with his friends and had to study hard for his last year in college and all my other friends insisted that I keep it. I sighed as I tacked it up. I really didn't mind keeping it. I just figured that it was going to make me homesick.

They next couple of pictures were of my friends. Despite what everyone here would probably think, I had friends. I knew most of the people in my school, but my best friends were Eevey and Hannie. Eevey was my best friend since forever ago. She was half black and half white, but had never known her father so she didn't know how she would know since her mom was black. Her real name was Brynn, but she got the nickname Eevey for some reason almost nobody even knew. Even I didn't know, but she says it's because she randomly shouted 'Evey' in a restaurant and it just stuck and word traveled. She was a very peppy girl and had long black hair that she wore most often in two long pigtails, she had hazel colored eyes, and a light brown color of skin. She always had something to say to everyone, whether it be bad or good. Unfortunately, this also got her into trouble with the teachers. While Eevey was the hyperactive type of girl, Hannie was a cool and calm girl. She had long blond hair that hung in small waves down to her waist. She normally put a braid in the front and pinned it in such a way that it hung down the back, thus keeping her hair out of her face. She had completely gray eyes, and a pale face, but she never seemed to burn although she didn't tan either. We met her in the second grade when we lost our other double dutch turner and we're about to give up, and we had been a threesome since. I wondered who they would get to take my place now.

As I tacked them up I glanced down at the other photos that I had brought. The ones with my family. My broken family.

It wasn't really 'broken', I guess. It just felt that way. My mom, Robyn Reilly-now Turner, got a divorce because my dad stopped working, and her cure for her sadness was to work more and be home less. When she saw that my father was not working at his best, she got upset and soon got a divorce. Then about a year later, she got remarried and moved to New York with a man named Phil Turner. He was nice, but I found it hard to visit her because I couldn't get use to the idea that she would remarry. My dad put more effort into his job when she left, and he tried to make us feel like a family. It wasn't easy when there were only two in an apartment that should have had five though. Sometimes my brother came and I always was happy with him. We were very close.

He use to like to take me to get a hot dog at the place where we used to get one when we were little. The owner, and cook, knew me and would secretly put ketchup on the bottom of the bun so that people wouldn't glare at me over being over the ketchup eating age limit. I recently had gotten use to not having ketchup on the dog, but I didn't tell him not to put it on. It was for old times sake.

I sighed and tacked them up too. Then I looked at the last photo. It was of my sister. It was taken about a month before she died. I wondered if I should put it up with all of the others. I wouldn't hesitate if she were alive, but somehow I didn't want people to bring her up when they saw the photo. I didn't think that I was ready to talk about what had happened quite yet. But then the other side of me said that I should put her photo up because she was part of my family and I wanted to remember her. Finally I decided and posted it onto the wall. She was my family and that was that.

I looked at her photo for a while. I had been close to my sister. While many girls argued with their sisters, we had gotten along really well. Not to say that we didn't have our fair share of arguments, but for the most part we really acted like family members and not enemies. The day that she had been shot still haunted me. I pictured it as a black and white memory. There was no life at all that day for me. It was a forbidden day. And I was glad that it had already passed. I never thought of a June 18 as just another day. It wasn't just a school day anymore. It was the day of indecision. Of consequence. Of horror.

I sighed and then looked at the clock. 6:37. Soon thereafter, Kiyoko came back into the room. She was humming a song that I didn't know, and she might not have known it either. She put her pajamas into her drawer and then turned to me.

"Since we have extra time this morning, why don't we look at my album?" she told me. She waited for my reply with this small look of complete excitement on her face that just said 'I'll die if you don't' on it. And I wasn't going to be the one to push her over the edge.

I rolled my eyes and then nodded as I groaned, "fine."

She gave a squeal and I wondered at how I had come to be roommate's, and friends, with the most fangirlish girl in history. I guessed that it had occurred with Eevey though, and history tended to repeat itself. Especially with me.

Kiyoko jumped onto my bed with her big thick photo album and began to explain about all of the rich boys. I half listened and half fell asleep. I never had been interested in how a guy looked. I was interested in how they would treat me, and how honest they were. I didn't want a good looking guy who might beat me and then leave me. What if these boys were the type to do that? Although I doubted they could fight. Just look how Ichijou had given up with me last night. The only time that I reacted to any of the things she told me was when she mentioned Ichijou's name and I blushed deeply when I remembered what I had said to him, again.

"Ohh... you have a crush on Ichijou-senpai already..." Kiyoko murmured slowly with a sly smile.

I shook my head with what I was sure was fear in my eyes, but Kiyoko was now grinning like a mad woman. She was practically bouncing on the bed. She looked really excited.

"Oh! I have the best idea of how you can meet him!" she cried. "today, when we go to see them leave their dorm, I'll-"

I slapped my hand over her mouth. Whatever she wanted to say, I was pretty sure that I didn't want to hear it. She took my hand and removed it.

She winked at me as she told me, "right, you want it to seem like a complete surprise."

Then she began to chuckle a little bit and I got more nervous wondering what she was going to do to me today. Maybe her telling me was a good thing. Actually, I was beginning to wonder if being her friend could put me into harm's way. Maybe there were reasons why others didn't want to be her friend. Maybe she was a psycho! My eyes burst at the thought.

Then she was grabbing my hand and running for the door with me in tow.

"Whoa!" I cried as I got myself dragged. "Where on earth are you going so fast, Kiyoko?!"

"To the cafeteria! It's almost seven and today's my favorite set! I have to get there before it's all gone!" she cried.

"Well, slow down! If you can't stand not getting there early, than I bet you wouldn't be able to stand me going to the infirmary first!" I cried again.

Seriously, this girl was going to be the death of me. Were all the girls this way?

_**Later**_

I was in the library. It was study hall, my last period of the day. I was trying to figure out what I was going to tell Ichijou as an apology. I had decided that I owed him that much.

The way that I figured it, I could sneak out of my room after curfew and try to get his attention, or catch him outside by chance. Then I would tell him I was sorry, but how?

I cleared my throat and began to rehearse the lines that I should say. "Ichijou-senpai... about yesterday... I was embarrassed because I didn't know how to open- oh no, no, no... that's not right." I paused and cleared my throat again to start over, "Ichijou-senpai, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say all those things to you yesterday. I don't normally act that way, see it's because of where I'm from. We always- oh no, no. That's too personal. I can't tell him all that." I paused again and then once again cleared my throat to start over, "I'm so sorry for what I said. The thing is in my old town the kids made fun of me, and I thought you were also. No. That's still too personal. It's even worse." I paused and tried again, "I acted that way because you're rich and I'm poor. I don't know what you want with me. No, that's still personal! And now I'm bringing my social status into it! I can't do that!" I thought again and then began another idea, "Why can't I just say 'sorry'? No, that's too inconsiderate. That wouldn't show _why_ I'm sorry." I grunted and then started over again, "hey, Scratchy Farmer! How are you today? Sorry 'bout yesterday! I'm normally the nicest- no that won't work. It's not even halfway true, and why would I call him Scratchy Farmer to his face?!"

I felt like screaming. I couldn't do this! I just couldn't have a good way to apologize to him!

"I am such a weakling! Why am I such a weakling?! Dear Lord, how come this had to happen to me? Why? What did I do wrong?" I paused and then I asked anxiously, "is this because I still have ketchup on my hot dogs?!"

That's when I became aware of laughter behind me. I whirled around and came face to face with Ichijou. Whatever way that I planned on apologizing with was now diminished. It disappeared off the face of the earth right after my ketchup on hot dogs statement.

I blushed a gazillion shades of red and didn't even know what to do while he laughed at me. Finally I had to say something though.

"Hey! How come you're here?!" I demanded.

I gave him a firm look that I hoped was demanding and tough, but I bet that I failed miserably. Especially due to the statement that I had just made. Just as I feared, he almost started to chuckle at me again. I rolled my eyes. He ignored my question and instead gave me a look of confusion as he asked his own question.

"Why are you so upset anyway?" he asked me.

"Well, I was going to apologize for yesterday," I admitted.

This would have been a lot easier if I could have just roped in my temper and joked around a little bit more then. Why did I have to fly off the handle then? Ugh... it was the long journey... I swear.

"Oh. That," he replied looking at the ground. "it's alright. I actually came here to ask you some questions though."

I was apprehensive again. If I hadn't just apologized and gotten his forgiveness, or as close to it as possible, I would have started to argue with him again. Anything except questions. I didn't like questions. It wasn't really the questions, though. It was the answers that I came up with. Half the time they weren't what I really wanted to say, and the other half of the time I didn't know what to say or it brought up bad memories.

"Well, you can't because it'll run over curfew and I'll get in trouble and you've got class," I told him.

I thought that excuse would save me for sure. He wouldn't go against the school's rules. No rich boy ever did. They all were concerned about their permanent record and grades and such. He wouldn't want to miss out on his highly advanced classes. My face fell a little when I saw that his expression changed, but to one of slight confidence. I don't know, but he looked happier and not worried.

"I got permission for both of us to use this library until midnight, and there are no classes for you tomorrow, so you don't have to complain about not getting enough rest," he told me.

This bit of news surprised me because I was positive that tomorrow was only a Thursday. Did he mean for me _personally_? No, that couldn't be right. I wanted to argue with him over it, but then remembered that he was the vice dorm president and had probably arranged something with the Chairman to be able to come here to speak to me. He probably had gotten me permission to not have class. Although I didn't know what I would be doing instead. Probably sleeping in, and thinking a lot.

I rolled my eyes and he took that as my sign of submission. He smiled and sighed a little.

"That was easier than I though," he sighed, "I knew that you would say 'yes' for the day off of school though. It's like an extra day of our summer vacation, and I'll take you to lunch."

I groaned and received another confused look from Ichijou.

"'An _extra_ day'?!" I exclaimed, "you don't know the first thing about me!"

I watched as he went even more pale in surprise. I gave him a look and he fumbled for an answer as he watched me.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I'm here to find out about you. Come on. Let's go sit down, since the last bell just rang."

I looked up and saw that he was right. There were no more students in the library. He was already making his way for a table in the back near a large window. I reluctantly followed and sat in the seat right next to the window. I looked down onto the girls who were making their way to the Moon Dorm gate. I felt slightly bad for the rich boys because they had to deal with such silly girls. They were so determined to get the attention that they didn't realize that they were humiliating themselves. It was kind of funny too.

"So, maybe we should first formally introduce ourselves to each other," Ichijou told me as he sat down in the seat next to me. "I'm Ichijou Takuma, who are you?"

I turned back to him and replied, "Gwendolyn Magdalene Pierce."

He stared at me. He had probably never ever heard of such a name. I sighed. That's how everyone reacted, it wasn't anything new.

"Call me Gwen," I told him, "I don't know why my parents had to name me that. It's really embarrassing when you're going to school, too. I mean, why couldn't they give me a short name? Everyone in my family had a short name and then they ruin it with me."

I leaned back in my seat and looked at the ceiling. I waited for him to laugh at me, but he didn't. I glanced back at him and saw that he wasn't saying anything. In fact, he looked like he was waiting for me to say more.

"Well?" I asked, "you said that you wanted to ask me some questions. So ask. I don't have anything to hide."

He jumped at the opportunity and asked the one thing that I wish that I could hide, "where are you from?"

I hesitated. Then I looked back at the ceiling.

"Why does everyone have to ask that?" I groaned to myself, "it's not such a bad thing, but why did I have to be from_ that_ place of all places? Why couldn't I have been from somewhere a little bit better? Like maybe two districts over? Or how about the 34? That's where Comiskey Park is. I couldn't at least be from there?"

I looked back at Ichijou when he asked, "where are you from? I'm sorry, but I'm really confused."

He blushed a little, like he normally would understand, but didn't this time and didn't want to embarrass me. I blushed too.

"I'm from District 66," I replied, "it's Chicago Lawn."

"Oh, Chicago. You're American," he sighed as he got it. "how's Chicago? I never went there when I visited America."

I wanted to scream, but didn't really know why. Maybe it was because talking about this made me homesick. I really wanted to be anywhere but here. In fact, I should be in my room doing my homework, not talking with some rich boy.

"It's great, I love Chicago. Although... my neighborhood is a little on the rough side," I told him.

"Oh, well, we don't have to talk about that," he told me. "I mean, I want to know about you, but if that's the case, then I don't want to bring up any bad memories."

I was surprised. I thought that was what this whole thing was about. I thought that he wanted to find out about my biggest secrets and make fun of me for it, or try to judge my status. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. Maybe this Ichijou wasn't so bad after all. He smiled a little at me when he saw my face.

"I'm glad that you don't want to tell about yourself either," he told me, "because I've been wanting to ask you why ketchup on a hot dog is a bad thing."

And thus we start off to a great night discussion on the rules of hot dogs. And of one hot dog defacer. Me.

* * *

Alright. There's the second chapter. I hope that it's okay. I know that she changed her opinion on him sort of fast. But I don't think that it was too fast, since she still thought he would hold it over her head. I hope that everyone understands the ketchup on hot dogs rule. (is that a Chicagoan thing?? I'm starting to wonder...)

Does this lack plot? Tell me what you think, I'm going to put more of the plot into the next chapter-they'll go to lunch together, he wasn't joking. She thinks that he is though, so she didn't bring it up. (I've done this before and it makes me look like a nutcase!)

Introduce her old friends? I think that I'll bring them in once or twice. They're really funny. (in my head)

**Please review! I'm not too confident in my work, so I need all the advice I can get. (and encouragement, and I get lonely talking to myself):**

**_I have no clue if a shooting ever occurred in Chicago Lawn (I didn't make up the District or anything though). I don't even know what it's like in Chicago Lawn, I just used a place in Southside with the ethnicity that was close to what I wanted for this story. I don't mean any harm to anyone, so don't kill me over it!_**


	4. Chapter Three: A Bad Feeling

_Vampire Knight does not belong to me. _

**Takuma/OC**

_**A Dangerous Assumption**_

_Chapter Three: A Bad Feeling_

_**Cross Academy, Japan: July 7, 2009**_

"I guess that you're going to want to go to bed now," Ichijou told me, "it's almost midnight. I'll walk you back to your room."

I nodded, but then fully grasped what he was saying. He wanted to take me back to my room? I was very capable of walking there alone. I might be acting friendly with him, but that didn't give him permission to act like a rich boy in front of me. We had been having a conversation about Chicago and anything related to Chicago and now he was here trying to see if I would allow this. And I wouldn't. I had gone to a school that was at risk and had been out after midnight, and curfew, in a neighborhood that was quite 'da hood'. I most certainly didn't need him to walk me to my room on the campus of a school that was the most prestigious in almost the whole world. There was nothing that would put me in harms way here, despite what this Ichijou told me.

I gave him a questioning look, one that he returned with a look of confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"Why do you want to walk me there? I can find my way back," I told him.

I started to get up from my seat. I was determined to make my own way. Pave my own trail. Walk into a couple of trees. However, Ichijou caught my hand and wouldn't let go. I looked back at him with a firm face.

"I can get there by myself," I nearly growled. "I don't need your help."

He looked genuinely surprised, but I understood why. The person who you were just talking calmly to was suddenly turning on you. Like they were out of control of themselves. I felt guilty, but this seemed to occur for more than one reason: it was late and when I was up too much, I got cranky; I don't like to be treated like a baby, although I act that way sometimes I'll admit; and his aura really bothered me. It was stronger than the gangsters aura at my school, and while I had previously rubbed aura's off, his just was almost too strong to ignore. Whenever I felt it, I had to wonder what he was. Child molester, rapist, murderer... vampire... but his attitude was so genuinely nice and considerate! I didn't know how any of those things could be true. But then again... it's always the nice one...

"You were just being... tolerant," he told me as he fished around for a good word.

I stared at him in shock. 'Tolerant'? I was being 'tolerant'? He should come up with something better than that! Tolerant sounded plain... ugh... I don't know... but it didn't feel good to be called tolerant! It made me feel like he thought that I was pretty defensive. Which I am.

I can't help being defensive. It's who I am. Without my being defensive, who knows what might have happened to me in Chicago! Acting tough had saved me many times from sure death, or humiliation. I didn't get why it didn't seem to work here as well. Probably because acting defensive here made you stand out to everyone though. In a school where there was hardly anything to be defensive about, I was making a scene. Who would want to be my friend if I kept acting this way? But I couldn't just stop! I couldn't ignore this defense when I had used it so many times with people with a similar, and yet strangely, weaker aura!

"I'm sorry. With you I just have the worst time with choosing words!" he told me. "come on. Despite what you think, there are people here that are dangerous. Please allow me to come with you."

I gave up with a slight shake of my head and then headed towards the libraries wooden double doors. I heard Ichijou running a little to catch up with my fast pace. I kept my head down and didn't acknowledge him when he caught up.

"You must be really tired right now. I'm sorry that I kept you up so late," he told me.

I could tell, even without looking at him, that he was at least half amused. He had probably never had a girl take offense when asked to be walked to her bedroom. The thing was, I didn't really want him to end up bothering me again. I didn't want him to take note of the floor and room number and come to see me all the time. Or ever, actually. How would that hold over with the girls? They'd think 'oh that new girl is a complete slut' or 'it's her second day and already she's making eyes with Ichijou-senpai' or some other thing that a fangirl might think about another girl hanging around with their 'idol'.

Don't get me wrong, I like Ichijou, he's really nice... but his kindness might be mistaken for a crush, and I as the new girl, didn't want that. It's bothersome.

"It's alright, I guess," I mumbled back under my breath. "I just don't want the other girls to see you with me."

"Is that really it?" he asked in surprise. "I thought that I said something wrong."

He sounded relieved, but then I ruined it with my next statement, "it was that, too."

"Great," he muttered. "with you I can't do anything right."

We walked in silence towards my dorm, and I was actually beginning to be a little grateful that Ichijou came with because my eyesight wasn't very good out here. It was nothing like Chicago. There were no streetlights, no cars, no buildings, no alleyways to slip through and use as a shortcut... no landmarks to tell your way by except for the walk. And there were forks in it and since I was new, without another person, I was hopeless.

Ichijou led me easily through the jungle like forest, taking my hand quickly if I wandered off the path or started to head down the wrong path. I would blush each time and grab my hand away from his.

Finally we arrived back at the dorm and I sighed in relief that he had actually taken me to the dorm and not some secluded section of the forest. Not that I thought that Ichijou would do such a thing as that to me... he was a rich boy after all. Concerned about his record and how he appeared to other people.

"Which room?" he asked.

This was where I drew the line though. "Ichijou-senpai, I think that I can handle it from here on out," I told him. "thanks for taking me back though."

I blushed on the last sentence. I didn't want to admit that I _may_ have needed his expertise, but I had to at least say thank you for him taking the trouble of making sure that I got back safely. Without being hysterical in the forest somewhere. Although I would never completely admit that.

He smiled nicely in return and waved a little as I went in. "Take care," he called softly.

I went into the building and sighed in relief that the whole 'interrogation' thing was over for today. It wasn't really an interrogation, but I didn't know what else to call it. He asked a lot of questions about Chicago and I had to be careful with how I answered each one. Sometimes.

I got to my room and didn't even undress before sliding under my covers and closing my eyes. This seemed like a great ending to a hysterical day. I smiled a little though. I'd have something to laugh about later.

Just as I was about to fall asleep. My cell phone rang. I groaned and cursed myself for not turning it off.

I reached down into my school bag and grabbed it and then flipped it open. "Hello?" I answered sleepily.

_**Same place, same time, different POV**_

Ichijou watched as she walked into her dorm and then turned to go back to his own dorm.

The classes had been cut that day, to the disappointment of the fangirls that had been waiting outside of the Moon Dorms gate. They had gotten quite extravagant with their ways of trying to get into the dorms after the announcement made by Yuuki to all of them though. Some of them had tried to sneak over the wall, some tried to cut through the forest and get around to the back. All of them failed of course. Zero and Yuuki were on top of things as always. And they practically barricaded the library so that if any girl had seen Ichijou walking towards the place he planned to talk to Gwen in, they couldn't bother them.

Gwen of course wasn't completely aware of all of this. She was aware that there had been no classes and that the girls were crazy though, so he was sure that she would catch on fast to what happened around campus.

He had to wonder if she was aware enough of her surroundings that she could tell there was something inhuman about him. Whenever he offered to do anything for her, like walking her back to the dorm, she flew off the handle like he was out to get her. He wasn't sure if it was just him, or if she knew more than she wanted to say.

He sighed and rubbed a hand behind his neck as he walked up the steps to the entrance. What if his curiosity gave away the Night Class secret? If she didn't already know that was. He use to think that it was Aidou who would eventually give the secret publicity, but never himself. He just hoped that all went well with her the next day. He had a bad feeling about it though.

* * *

I am aware that this chapter is very short. I didn't originally plan for it to be like this, but I felt bad for not updating anything and this can help me with the next chapter. (I hope). The next chapter will be better. I have to go to bowling right now so I couldn't wait any longer.

**Please review! I like to get feedback, even if it's a little critical. I need all the help I can get! I don't want it to be rushed or anything...**


	5. Chapter Four: Lunching, Books, and Fires

_Vampire Knight does not belong to me. _

**Takuma/OC**

_**A Dangerous Assumption**_

_Chapter Four: Lunching, Books, and Fires_

_**Some Diner, Japan: July 7, 2009**_

"Why did you wake me up so early?" I groaned.

I placed my head sideways onto the cold tabletop. This morning I had been unceremoniously awoken by Ichijou. I had been entangled by the bed covers, still dressed in my wrinkly uniform and my hair was frizzy and all over the place. I had _not _expected him to be standing at my door. I had opened it while complaining about Kiyoko cutting class and forgetting her key. When I had opened the door up, I had been startled and horrified to find Ichijou there instead. I didn't even know how he had located my room, but that thought disappeared from my mind the instant I realized how much of a wreck I looked compared to him. And just about everyone else in the world. Then he told me that he was there to take me to lunch. I hadn't even known what time it was and had grabbed a white skirt and lime green polo shirt that would look okay with it from one of Kiyoko's drawers, praying that she wouldn't mind since I had nothing better than a pair of khaki's and a worn blouse to wear. Ichijou had to wait while I ditched out of my room to take a shower and change. My hair wasn't even up in the usual style, so I was blowing on it constantly to keep it out of my face.

"You're asking _me_ that question?" Ichijou replied.

He sounded a little disgruntled about it, but it was obviously for effect. He was completely amused by my behavior. I looked up a little at him and saw that indeed he had on an innocent smile. It was driving me insane with how he thought of me as a great source of entertainment. Whenever I happen to do something stupid, he was right there. It was like he was psychic and got a brainwave whenever I was about to do something completely embarrassing. Either that or he was the cause of it. I gave him a small glare in reply.

"Well, technically, this would be my night and last night would be my day," I told him. "that's how Eevey put it on the phone anyway."

Last night Eevey had called me and told me all about their day at school, then she started to send me all of these photos and wanted me to comment on each and every one. When I didn't say exactly what she wanted to hear, or nothing at all, she thought that I was being annoying. She had sent me a great picture of Andre, a self defined 'cool kid', having to double dutch with them. He usually made fun of us 'jumping girls' as he made up his raps in the schoolyard, but then Eevey and he had a bet that she could get a higher grade on the make-up math classes math test and she won. By two points, when she made a seventy-four. She made sure to invite as many of his friends as possible to see him humiliated. On a normal basis, I would have found it hilariously funny, but I had been sleepy from being up so late in the first place, and had seemed unconcerned. I felt bad for her, but was oh-so-very-sleepy.

I closed my eyes a little and nearly fell asleep on myself in those few seconds. Then I was aware that he was still talking. But of course.

"Eevey? Is that one of your friends that you had tacked up on your wall?" he asked.

"You looked at those?" I asked in reply.

I wasn't really surprised. I took a long time in the bathroom, even for having somebody waiting. I liked to take _really _long _really _cold showers. That's how I think. Or should I say _when_ I think. I rarely thought anywhere except the shower or in school. Every other time nobody was aware that I was any smarter or dumber than they were.

Seriously, in a neighborhood where people were completely rowdy, I wasn't going to look like a scholar _all _the time. When I wasn't studying, I was double dutching. I was really good at it, and I loved to try flips and such while we were around the rappers in our schoolyard. It was kind of an odd thing, but it was fun.

"Yeah, I had to wait for you, so I just looked over them a little," he told me while blushing a little.

I sat up, looking at him oddly. I wondered why he was blushing like that.

"Do anything else in there?" I asked him while narrowing my eyes a little.

He gave me a startled look as he shook his head. "What? No!" he replied anxiously.

"Fine, and yes, she is one of my friends up on that wall," I told him.

"Which one?" he asked.

"Why are you so curious?" I asked him. "I don't give my friends identities away to just anybody."

He looked startled, but seemed to realize that I was very protective of things that were personal to myself. Well, it was about time.

"I'm just bringing up a conversation!" he exclaimed. "do I do nothing to your standard?"

I gave him an odd look. _He_ messed up when he was with _me_? Well... if that's what he thought... I shrugged and yawned. I rested my head on one arm and our food arrived just as I was half asleep again.

We were silent as we munched on the meal that we had bought. I had ordered a simple burger with fries, while Ichijou ordered something a little more drastic. Seafood. I disliked even looking at seafood, but I wouldn't bring it up in front of him. Even I knew that was rude and completely inappropriate. He liked what he liked. So did I.

"So, on to a different topic," Ichijou said as he took a bite out of what looked like shrimp, but I wasn't sure, "what was it like to live in Chicago? I mean, what did you do when you weren't going to school or to a museum?"

I shrugged again. "I don't know," I told him. "it's a city. It's big, adventurous, and boring all rolled into one."

He didn't seem to know what to make of that. He ate without looking at me for a while, lost in his own thoughts, I guess. I followed suite. After a while I began to run out of French fries and noticed that we hadn't done anything at all for at least ten minutes. We had both just been listening to the din of the diner. The occasional clang of metal on metal, which hurt my ears; the talking from other tables; loud laughs from some of the female patrons; and a mother crooning softly to her baby who was wailing at the top of its lungs. We seemed to be the only table that wasn't making some sort of noise.

Hesitantly I said, "it was hard. To be there. When you were a little kid, you probably got to run around and climb trees and do all sorts of outside things. It was probably a protective childhood. You didn't know about the real world until you were sent to boarding school." I paused a little to separate our two worlds, "mine is all about the real world. I grew up as the girl who sat on the monkey bars and kicked people down. I had a childhood that wasn't sweet and innocent. To me, this world in the boarding school is fantasy."

"That's... part way true," Ichijou admitted. "my grandfather is very strict though. I didn't do any of those things. He was all about schooling and mannerism. However, it was protective. I knew about the world, but bad things didn't normally affect me. I guess that's why I am so happy and content with everything even now."

There was a pause again. I hadn't meant to assume about his life. I didn't really care about his life. He still had money and at least he had a grandfather who cared enough about him to keep him protected. I was the girl who stayed out until midnight without her parents worrying.

"I'm not very open," I admitted, as if he hadn't already realized that, "I was always like that, I guess. I put on a front so that people stay away, but those who are my friends know about what I'm really like."

Ichijou paused in his eating and looked up at me a little. I knew what he was thinking. He thought that I was implying the question 'are you my friend?' and I guess that in a way I was. I wasn't really wanting him to know about my life if he wouldn't treat me as his friend ever again. I didn't want to look like an idiot by telling him all those things when he didn't really care in the first place.

"Am I one of those friends?" he asked.

I gave him a look that just said, 'do I treat you like a friend?', but then I sighed and looked at the table.

"I don't know," I admitted, "no offense, but there's something off about you."

I was scared to look up at him. I didn't want to offend him. That wasn't my goal, not at all! I just wanted to be honest and get some answers. I just hoped that they didn't match my ideas about them.

"Like what?" he asked slowly.

I blushed as I answered, "well, to be honest, your aura bothers me. A lot."

He gulped and I looked up. His face was filled with discomfort, like he didn't like this question, or rather answer.

"How can you read my aura?" he asked.

Was it just me, or was he seriously getting paler? I wondered if he was okay. I hadn't meant to either freak him out or make him frightened of me in general.

"Nothing," I replied, blushing. "it's nothing. I just... it feels stronger than the vibe I get off the school gangsters, so I don't like it. I don't like being left in the dark about things. I don't think that I can be your friend unless you tell me what makes you so... dark feeling."

It was true. It was definitely his aura that hindered a friendship. He could be as nice as he could be, but if he wasn't honest than I couldn't be around him. I looked up into his eyes and saw that they were a little bit sad. Like he wanted to tell me something, but he knew that he couldn't.

"Let's change the topic again," he told me, "I'd tell you about what you're feeling, but I can't. Just trust me when I say that I don't want to harm you."

_'Just trust me'? _I wondered, _does he not realize at this point that's impossible for me?_

I looked at the table as if there were answers there. I didn't know if I could 'just trust' him. That was against every bone in my body. However, he was pretty nice, and I bet at some point he would slip up and I would figure it out on my own. And then I could... I don't know... but he would have to come clean.

"Alright, for now," I told him firmly.

"Well, then, on to a different subject," he said happily. "I think that after we eat, we should go to a bookstore."

"A bookstore? Isn't there anything... interesting around here?" I asked. "Like, an aquarium or a museum or a theater..."

I trailed off when I saw his expression. Apparently all these people did was study. I preferred to actually go somewhere to learn something. At least that was interesting.

"You don't like to read? That's too bad," he replied. "I'll recommend some books to you when we go. What's your favorite genre?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Anything that perks my interest, I guess," I told him.

I didn't have a favorite genre. I hardly ever got the chance to read. Our school library sucked, and whenever I went to downtown Chicago, I was more interested in the museums and the aquarium than the bookstores. I mean, why sit down and be quiet when you could be having fun? And then there was the whole thing about going to see a baseball game... I had to save my money up. I remember that I found a good book on mobsters in Chicago once in the Historical Society though.

"Well, what was the last book that you read?" he asked, trying again.

"_The Chicago Outfit _by John J. Binder," I answered nonchalantly.

He sighed and leaned back into the booth. He looked at the ceiling for a while.

What? It was normal to read about things like that, right? People read about the history of mobsters in their city all the time! At least, the people that were in my family...

"You don't really like reading, do you?" he sighed.

I immediately was defensive, protective of my honor as a student. I began to wave my arms as if that was going to prove half of it wasn't true. I even closed my eyes and smiled a little while blushing.

"No! I just... like to go places that are interesting before it comes to the bookstore," I replied, then while I blushed a little, I added, "and... I would rather save my money for baseball games... or a... football game or two. And there are all those bets that we make in school... and we sometimes play poker, that's how I make all of my money in the first place, but sometimes you lose and I don't want to be shot."

I blushed again when I realized that I had said way too much on my personal money making and spending policies. And that 'getting shot' phrase was probably not something that I should have mentioned. I didn't even know if it was one hundred percent true! Although there was that time... I shook my head a little at myself. I was being absurd.

"Well, if that's the case... you'll have a lot to get use to here," Ichijou told me, as if I didn't already know. "And you shouldn't be so... defensive about things. I'm pretty sure that things aren't that bad around here."

I rolled my eyes. Of course he would say something like that. He was rich.

"Well, I think that I shouldn't get use to things this way," I admitted, "because I'll be going back there for breaks and stuff."

I stirred the straw in my drink a little bit and looked into it as if reading tea leaves, but it was just a pop. I could feel Ichijou's eyes on me as he tried to figure me out. I didn't really know what was going on in his head, but I figured it was along the lines of 'just where is this kid from?'. I sighed in reply and for the billionth time wished that I was from a different part of Chicago.

"Well, you look like you're ready to go, so I'll just grab the check and we'll head out," he told me.

I nodded a little, not really paying attention. Ichijou across from me was paying the check in cash and was smiling at the waitress as she tried her best to flirt with him one last time. I just rolled my eyes. Girls here were so fooled by boys. They wouldn't act this way with the boys from my district.

When Ichijou was finished paying, I stood first completely ready to leave the joint. Then I realized that he had paid for me.

"Hey, Ichijou-senpai, I want to pay for myself," I told him as we walked out of the diner. "I don't take hand-outs."

He gave me a small, friendly smile. "That's alright," he said, "I can cover it."

"That doesn't matter," I told him, giving him a small glare, "just because you can cover it, doesn't make it less of a _hand-out_. Let me pay for it."

I stopped and started to dig into my messenger bag for my wallet. When I looked back up, I saw that Ichijou was standing beside me still with a slight blush on his face, as if this situation embarrassed him.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just that I have enough money and you really don't have to pay for it," he told me. "it wasn't that much. Please, don't worry about it."

I fumbled a little in my thoughts, then I took into account what he had told me only a few minutes ago. This might be a part of getting use to it here.

I sighed in slight disgruntlement, but put my wallet back into my bag.

"If this proves to be a joke..." I began a threat, with a serious face and everything.

"No, no it's not," he told me just as seriously, holding his hands out to stop me if I tried something.

I shrugged after that and walked with him to the bookstore. The walk was quiet, but it wasn't really an uncomfortable quiet. There was something about Ichijou that seemed a little bit friendly, even though the dark aura was still there. And it was daytime. He wouldn't try something in broad daylight.

"Here we are," he told me as he pointed to a small, obviously private owned bookstore.

I hadn't expected anything less for a rich kid. I sighed as if this was some huge chore for me. I probably couldn't buy anything, and why should I even buy anything anyway? It wasn't like I was going to actually read it. Nothing in a book really caught my interest. Half the time the main character was a sappy, love sick girl; a girl who was too spoiled for her own good; or a girl who had no brains at all, like the girl in Twilight. I mean, who couldn't have figured out that those people were vampires? And why on earth had she accepted him so fast when he was _sneaking into her room_? That sounded downright invasive to me. I would never let a guy get away with that. And I wouldn't just accept him so easily after finding out that he was a vampire. Who did that and was human?

I shook the feeling away. I didn't even know why I was thinking these thoughts. It was totally random. I would never have to worry about one of those situations because there was no such thing as vampires. What was I thinking recently?

Beside me, Ichijou was practically bursting with energy, but he seemed to be waiting for me to say something. I just gave him a blank stare.

"Well, just poke around, they have some neat stuff to look at, meet me back at the front in an hour," he told me.

Soon thereafter he was gone.

I wandered into the bookstore, cautious as if the place was going to eat me alive. The door would make you walk in facing the desk that would be to your right. Then the bookshelves would wrap around the room on the walls with still more parallel to the desk in the center. Everything seemed very old and creepy. The floorboards creaked under my feet, causing me to feel as if I was walking into an old warehouse. The bookshelves were made out of a dark, flaky by now, wood and there were a few scattered lamps to light the otherwise completely dark space as well as some windows placed higher up. I had to blink a few times to adjust to the lack of light. I didn't know who could read in such darkness. In another corner, I saw a small grouping of chairs and couches with a small coffee table where you could sit and read, if you could actually see in the dark.

I wondered if I should just sit down and wait for an hour, but then decided that would make Ichijou feel like he was completely boring me to death, which he was, and would make it look like I truly hated to read, which I did. Instead I wondered over to the first aisle, the one closest to the door, and began to peruse the books there.

Many were very old, with the original binding and everything. I ran my finger over the spines of them and felt the fabric crinkle a little to my touch.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't like things that were old. When I snuck into a deserted warehouse from the early 1900s I had been fascinated with just the old brick walls and the wooden stairs. Then of course there were the artifacts that were left over as well, but I couldn't get myself to collect even one and take it out of that marvelous place. I made it my thinking place and would often stay there past midnight after Hannie had gone home and Eevey had worn herself out. It was the only place that I wasn't loud and boisterous in. For a while, even I had to get away from the calamity of my life. Especially me, since it was my life.

I shook my head. That was the weirdest thing that I had ever thought. I hoped that I didn't just stand here with my finger on a book spine thinking about an old warehouse.

I began to scan the shelves again and then found an old book on the Great Chicago Fire. It had been published in 1915 and was quite old. It caught my interest because mainly, I was in Japan and I was from Chicago. I wondered how such a book would fall my way, and it was even in English. I wondered how it had gotten into Japan. I didn't want to take something that somebody had lost or anything.

I shrugged and pulled it off the shelf, the only book that I had given that privilege to so far.

It was old, but the binding was intact like nobody had picked it up for a while. Probably because they wanted something that was easy for them to understand or something that was more interesting. I turned the golden tinged pages and glanced over what people remembered about the Fire.

I don't know how long it took me to convince myself to buy it. On one hand, it was money that I could spend on something else, like food and clothing. However... on the other hand this was a chance that I might not have for a while. On the other hand the book was kind of expensive... on the other hand the book was really old and probably worth the price... on the other hand it was probably not the most important book that I could buy... on the other hand it was on _my_ city and and I loved my city. I had to buy it.

So I took it up to the front desk and to the older looking lady with large, thick glasses. She smiled at me and as a courtesy, I smiled back.

"Oh, I see that somebody has finally looked at that book," she said. "I found it in a used bookstore when I was visiting the city and had to read it myself, but then I thought that others should be able to read about what it was like in those times, so I decided to try and sell it again. I hope that you like it."

"I'm sure that I will," I told her.

I smiled genuinely then. It was considerate for people to care about spreading the history around, and while I wasn't fond of reading, I was fond of history.

I stood at the front of the store to wait for Ichijou who had just come with a huge stack of books to buy. There was both fiction as well as nonfiction. He was obviously quite the reader, and rich. I wouldn't be able to buy so many books for more than one reason.

I put the book that I had bought into my bag, since I didn't want to look like I had actually found something that sparked my interest. Literally. It probably wouldn't fascinate him anyway, not like it did to me.

He came up with a half smile as he saw me. "Ready to go?" he asked, as if he didn't already know.

I rolled my eyes and immediately turned to go out the door.

When we were walking down the street heading back to the Academy, he began to talk about what he had bought.

"I wanted to catch up on my manga first, but then I couldn't resist this new book that was coming out for my favorite series," he told me, "what did you buy? I saw you take one off of a shelf. Finally."

I blushed a little at the way he put it and then answered, "it's nothing completely interesting. It's just a book on the Chicago Fire that they had."

He grinned a little at me. "Well, it doesn't have to interest anyone but you, so that's okay," he told me, "you know who started the fire, right?"

"Yep," I answered, "Louis M. Cohn."

"Huh? No, it was the cow belonging to that one lady, what's her name? O'Leary?" he told me.

"Nope, it was the gambler," I insisted blatantly. "playing craps in there with the neighborhood boys."

"No, it was her angry cow," he told me just as firmly, "kicked the lantern right over."

"No, it was the gambler. Mrs. O'Leary found him in there, kicked him out and then he tripped on the lantern on his way out," I replied my voice filled with an effort to give detail to my side and not just my opinion, "he only paused to pick the money up and then left."

"I still think it's the cow, somebody would have noticed that right away," he insisted, "unless all Chicagoans are oblivious."

"It was Louis M. Cohn, he confessed it in his will," I told him smugly, "and Chicagoans are _not _oblivious!"

I realized that even this little bit of information was digging into my personal life, but it was kind of fun to argue my point. Since it was definitely Louis M. Cohn's fault. I had believed that it was his fault for at least a whole year now and had found books that proved it, as well as others that shrugged it off. However, I think that after so many years of taking care of cows, Mrs. O'Leary would have remembered her lantern. And I doubted that her cow could light a match.

Soon after these thoughts, I became aware that Ichijou was laughing a little. I turned to him abruptly, giving him a hard, questioning look.

"I didn't think that you would say your opinion so clearly," Ichijou told me, "did you base your idea with a book? Or did it come up in a gambling party?"

I felt a little insulted by the comment, but knew that he was teasing me.

"I will have you know that I said I read whatever perks my interest," I reminded him, "that doesn't mean I don't read. However, I might have first heard about it while gambling in the schoolyard, but then I researched it to prove it. I _do _think about things."

"I still think that it was her cow," he told me after getting a grip on his laughter.

We walked in silence for a bit. I glanced around at the buildings around me. They weren't tall like in Chicago, but they had alleyways and people sold stuff on the streets. However, it wasn't nearly as exciting as the Windy City. And then there were some rundown areas. I would like to see inside of them, but knew that would sound odd to Ichijou. I mean, who was that fascinated with old stuff that they would want to go into a building that might possibly collapse on them? Well, admittedly, I was, but nobody else could know that. Not even my best friends knew that I hung out inside a deserted warehouse.

"You like old buildings, don't you?" Ichijou asked me.

I turned back to him slowly. The horrible thing that I felt right then was discovery. I hadn't expected him to pick up on my fascination so quickly! After all, my best friends didn't even notice, why on earth should he?

"Eh, that's not it!" I retorted with uneasiness. I didn't want _him_ to know about where I liked to go and think!

"Well, you've been staring at that place for two whole minutes, you didn't even react when I knocked into you by accident," he told me. "did you notice something off?"

I fumbled for an answer. I hadn't known that I had been staring off into space for two minutes. And I had stopped. There was something about this old house though... I didn't like the feeling that I got from it.

"Not really, I just thought about the warehouses in Chicago," I admitted. "and I get a bad feeling from it."

Ichijou looked carefully at the house, but didn't change his facial expression from anything except contemplative, so I wasn't sure what he was thinking about. After a while, he turned back to me.

"I don't see anything unusual about it," he told me, "what do you mean 'you get a bad feeling from it'?"

I shook my head and put my hands up by my head. I must be going crazy, but the feeling was getting stronger.

"Let's go, I just don't like this," I told him.

I grabbed his arm and practically forced him to leave the site. A couple of minutes later, maybe not even that long, we heard a huge explosion behind us.

We both turned around and saw that the house had just burst into flames. They were so large and monstrous already that they would have caused debris to fly and hit us if we had stayed in the same spot. The place that we had stood in now housed two window frames and some sprayed glass.

I stood staring at it in shock, not even aware that Ichijou was trying to get my attention.

"I-I can't believe..." I whispered to myself over and over again.

"Neither can I," murmured Ichijou, "let's go back to the Academy. You need to rest."

I nodded, half distracted, then turned and followed him as he led the way back to the Academy.

"Was... somebody trying to... kill me?" I asked, mostly myself, but Ichijou heard.

He turned and looked at me in confusion. "What? Why would anyone target _you_?" he asked.

I looked at the ground and then back at him. "I've done some things that made a few people upset with me," I admitted, "there is more than one reason I came here."

"What did you do?" he asked, now wide-eyed.

"I searched for my sisters killer," I told him. "it seems like something really normal, but when you live in my neighborhood, it makes a lot of people nervous. And when they get desperate, they set up things like that." I pointed at the building that was just getting firefighters on the scene. "I don't get why they didn't do anything before though..."

An image of the scene on the L from a couple of months ago came into my mind though. There was a man watching me. I had felt his gaze, even though he had appeared to be reading a newspaper. It had bothered me enough that I got out at the very next stop, even though it wasn't the one I had planned to get off at. In fact, it had been the stop just after the one that I had gotten on at. Afterwards, I made sure that I lost him in the crowd.

I rubbed my head.

"What is it? Are you alright?" Ichijou asked me in concern, "you're worrying yourself sick. Come on, you have to get back to the Academy. I'm sure that the fire was caused by something besides an arsonist out to get you. Your enemies wouldn't follow you all the way to Japan."

I nodded a little again. Then I looked up at him and tried to smile, not really sure if I succeeded though, I was a little bit nervous still.

"Thank you," I whispered, "I'm fine. I just want to get back to my room."

He began to lead the way again, and I followed behind him.

I couldn't believe that that had occurred right after we had been standing there and it wasn't meant as a sign to me, but Ichijou was probably right. I was being absurd, my enemies wouldn't follow me to Japan. I wasn't even sure if I had _enemies_! All the events might have just been unfortunate events and feelings.

I shook the feeling off and just focused on getting back to the Academy. At least there I would be completely safe.

_**Cross Academy, same day, different POV**_

"What did you find out, Ichijou-san?" asked a sleepy Shiki when Ichijou came back into the bedroom that they shared.

He was sitting up in his bed right now, but seemed as if he wanted to go back to sleep as soon as possible. Since it was only about three in the afternoon.

Ichijou yawned himself and stretched, even though he hadn't just awoken. It felt good to be out of the sunlight and back in a place where he could fall asleep. He wondered if that was how Gwen saw it as well. The day hadn't exactly gone how he had planned, but it probably wasn't that bad. He had found out her major problem out after all. Paranoia.

"She's paranoid, I think," he yawned, "she thinks that everyone is out to get her."

He had heard her when she said that she was searching for her sisters killer though, and she was from a bad side of Chicago. Maybe that was just how it was over there, though. Maybe that had saved her before, and she thought that she needed that separation from reality.

"Paranoid, eh?" Shiki said, "then it was a waste to go out during the day?"

Ichijou shook his head and flashed a small smile.

"No, I still like her. She's very nice to be with, and I'm sure that she'll get over whatever happened with a little encouragement," he told Shiki, "and... I got to go to the bookstore."

He held up the huge bag of books and grinned widely whilst pointing at them. Then he put them over by the desk that he used for studying.

"I hope that you didn't make her bored with that..." Shiki mumbled as he lay back onto his bed.

Ichijou shrugged. "Turns out she hates to read, but she found something that she liked," he replied. "she's very picky for being poor."

He chuckled a little thinking about it.

"She likes her city," he commented. "and despite what she says, she's fascinated by old things. Like buildings and history."

He smiled a little as he grabbed his pajamas off of, strangely, his dresser. He must have been so tired this morning that he actually took the time to fold them and put them on the dresser.

"Is it worth you going to sleep right now?" Shiki asked, "class starts in about two hours."

He was pointing to the clock, but Ichijou didn't look. He didn't care about class, he was tired. What was the point in going if he would fall asleep anyway?

"I'm going to stay here," he admitted, "I hardly got any sleep. And the sun made me tired." he paused to yawn again, "and not to mention a building spontaneously bursting into flame, and then Gwen claiming that somebody was trying to kill her."

"She... claimed that somebody was... trying to kill her?" Shiki asked in disbelief. That girl _was_ paranoid.

"Yeah, I got her calmed down about it though," he told him. "she said something about her sisters death, but I was kind of distracted by the fire to really get it. She said that her sister was murdered."

Shiki wanted to laugh at this, because it was something that an absurd human would think, but he stopped when he saw that Ichijou's face was cast down to the floor in deep thought. It was as if he almost believed her.

"Did something else happen?" he asked him.

"She knew that the building had something wrong with it, and pulled me away seconds before it spontaneously combusted," he admitted. "I hadn't been able to tell that there was anything wrong though. I would have kept looking for what had made her so nervous. If she hadn't have followed her own instincts than it might have actually turned out differently."

He held his hand to his chin a little in thought, but then shook the feeling off. It was probably just a lucky thing on her part. He smiled at Shiki.

"Well, I've kept you up long enough," Ichijou told him, "you still have to go to class."

Then he went to get changed to go to sleep himself. The day had certainly worn him out, and he was sure that Gwen was worn out as well. He couldn't help but feel bad for her. It must be tiring to feel that everyone around you might possibly be dangerous. Then again, it was sometimes just as tiring to feel that everyone could potentially be good. As he sunk down under the covers of his bed, smelling the wonderful scent of them in doing so, he gave his final thoughts to the day.

Maybe he would try to talk to her again soon.

* * *

Okay, it's finally finished. Phew... this chapter was _really_ difficult to get _just _right... I ran through so many ideas that it's not even funny.

Well, I hope that everyone likes it. I put a lot of events into the day because they were out of Cross Academy, and I didn't think that Gwen would open right up and tell him about all the things that happened in her life, so I had to encourage it a little with the fire and the random book and such.

**Tell me what you think! Please review! Criticize away! I'm working to better the story! Oh, and there's another poll for a different one of my stories on my profile right now. I'd be ultra happy if I actually got some people to poll or write a review for the new story. (I can't do the next chapter for it until I get some inspiration). **

_Notes: The book _The Chicago Outfit _by John J. Binder does exist. No, I have not read it. (yet:) It looks interesting, but it's about the crime history of Chicago (obviously).  
There is a book on the Chicago Fire that was published in 1915, I used it as a half reference, but I would like to point out that I didn't take any facts from it. Same with the book above.  
I found the information for the cause of the Chicago Fire on mainly Wikipedia and other places, like the Historical Society up in Chicago and other TV programs. I didn't make them up.  
I don't know that any building in Japan 'spontaniously blew up'.  
Technically, she doesn't live in 'Southside', she lives in 'Southwest side'.  
I made a reference to the 'L'. I want people to understand that this is a typical abbreviation for the Elevated. It can be known as the 'El' or the 'L' more simply. (I always wondered at why it was called the 'Elevated' when it's mostly underground...)_


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